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America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011

High School Academic Coursetaking

Since A Nation at Risk was published in 1983, school reforms have emphasized increasing the number of academic courses students take in high school. More recent reforms have emphasized increasing the rigor, as well as the number, of courses taken. Research suggests a positive relationship between the level of difficulty of courses students take and their performance on assessments.^{109, 110}

Indicator Ed3: Percentage of high school graduates who had completed advanced coursework in mathematics, science, English, and foreign language, selected years 1982–2005

NOTE: Data for 1982 and 1992 are from a series of longitudinal studies, whereas data for 1987, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2000, and 2005 are from the National Assessment of Educational Progress High School Transcript Studies. Due to differences in survey methodology among the data collections, users should use caution when comparing data across the years. Advanced coursework includes the following: mathematics: courses above Algebra II; science: chemistry, physics, or advanced biology; English: some courses at the honors level; and foreign language: a year 3, year 4, or advanced placement course.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, High School Transcript Studies: High School and Beyond Study, National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, and National Assessment of Educational Progress Transcript Study.

The percentage of 2005 high school graduates who had taken at least one advanced mathematics course (defined as a course above Algebra II) was higher than the corresponding percentage for 1982 graduates (49 vs. 26 percent). Four percent of those who graduated in 2005 had taken a nonacademic or low-level academic course as their most advanced mathematics course, compared with 24 percent in 1982.
Sixty-three percent of all 2005 high school graduates had taken a chemistry, physics, or advanced biology course, compared with 35 percent of the graduates in 1982 who had taken this level of science course. The percentage of graduates whose most advanced science course was classified as a low-level academic course dropped from 27 percent in 1982 to 7 percent in 2005.
In English, 31 percent of all 2005 high school graduates had taken honors-level courses, an increase from 13 percent in 1982. There was no measurable difference between the percentages of 1982 and 2005 graduates who had taken low-level academic courses in English (10 and 12 percent, respectively).
In foreign languages, the percentage of high school graduates who had taken a year 3, year 4, or advanced placement course doubled from 15 percent in 1982 to 33 percent in 2005. Sixteen percent of 2005 high school graduates had not taken any foreign language course, compared with 46 percent of 1982 graduates.
In 2005, scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress were highest for those graduates who had completed the most challenging mathematics and science courses.¹¹¹

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¹⁰⁹ Dalton, B., Ingels, S.J., Downing, J., and Bozick, R. (2007). Advanced mathematics and science coursetaking in the spring high school senior classes of 1982, 1992, and 2004. National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.

¹¹⁰ Leow, C., Marcus, S., Zanutto, E., and Boruch, R. (2004). Effects of advanced course-taking on math and science achievement: Addressing selection bias using propensity scores. American Journal of Evaluation, 25, 461–478.

¹¹¹ Shettle, C., Roey, S., Mordica, J., Perkins, R., Nord, C., Teodorovic, J., Brown, J., Lyons, M., Averett, C., and Kastberg, D. (2007). The Nation's Report Card: America's high school graduates (NCES 2007-467). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.